Re: Computer syntax and VSO

Rob Haden wrote:
> One has to wonder how many currently SVO languages became so under the
> influence of SVO Indo-European languages.  For example, Finnish is SVO, but
> its structure shows that it was SOV until recently (via contact with
> Scandinavian languages).
Probably pretty few.  SVO is found all over the world, even in places
like the Americas and Australia, in languages that have no evidence of
recent European-induced changes in word order.  Given that SVO and SOV
are roughly equal in frequency, and VSO much less common, at something
like 15% of all languages, I find the idea of SVO as "transitional" to
be rather questionable, unless you can show good evidence that SVO is
rarely stable over long periods.

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